Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 15, 1993 TAG: 9301150138
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RAMPAGE OWNER MULLING HIS OPTIONS
The Roanoke Valley Rampage is moving. It's just a matter of where - either 4 miles to the Roanoke Civic Center or 549 miles to Syracuse, N.Y.Rampage owner Larry Revo, whose East Coast Hockey League club will vacate the Vinton LancerLot at the end of the season, said Thursday he appears to have two choices.
"There are no other secret places out there," Revo said. "It's pretty much down to [Roanoke or Syracuse]."
The Roanoke Valley's bid to keep the franchise hinges on whether Revo and the Roanoke Civic Center Commission can agree on a contract.
After receiving the commission's official proposal Monday, Revo said numerous changes would have to be made before he could seriously consider the offer.
Revo said Thursday he was drawing up a list of items in the commission's proposal that would have to be amended before the two parties could reach an accord. The list includes such things as rental fee ($2,200 per game), staffing fee ($1,589 per game), club office space and practice time.
"I plan to get back with the civic center as soon as possible and see what we can do to get some of these things worked out," Revo said.
Revo said he expected to hear "soon" from Syracuse officials.
"I have no idea how the Syracuse proposal will compare with the one here," Revo said. "I think they want hockey. I don't why [else] they would be putting $18 million into the renovation of the Onondaga County Auditorium."
The renovation, scheduled to be completed in late September, includes asbestos abatement, new ice-making equipment, dasher boards, seats and a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
Syracuse has been without minor-league hockey since 1983-84, when it had a team in the now-defunct North American Hockey League. Syracuse and Roanoke had clubs in the old Eastern Hockey League in the early 1970s.
\ MORE MOVERS?: Besides Roanoke Valley, there will be other moving plans on the docket when the league's board of governors meets in Wheeling, W.Va., before the inaugural ECHL All-Star Game on Feb. 2.
A league source said the ECHL's two Tennessee franchises - Nashville and Knoxville - are contemplating shifts to new cities for 1993-94. One of the two franchises likely will land in Huntsville, Ala.
\ RAMPAGE UPDATE: The Rampage hopes to end the longest losing streak in the ECHL's five-year history tonight against Wheeling at the LancerLot. Roanoke Valley has lost all 11 games since Dec. 17. The league's previous longest futility streak was 10, by Louisville in 1990-91.
Thursday, Roanoke Valley coach Steve Gatzos was working on several possible trades.
"We could have three, four new players [by today]," Gatzos said. "Then again, there might be none. Everything is up in the air."
Forward-defenseman Bill Wagner, picked up on waivers from Knoxville last week, left the club this week.
"His wife is expecting twins back in Knoxville," Gatzos said. "I think she and his family were pressuring him to get a real job. He'll need it, it looks like."
\ TOOTING HORN: One of the keys behind the Greensboro Monarchs' sudden turnaround has been the work of former Roanoke Valley Rebels goalie Bill Horn. Horn, last week's ECHL player of the week, is 11-2 with a league-leading 2.99 goals-against average since joining the Monarchs in early December.
\ ICE CHIPS: Nashville's Trevor Jobe, who has 48 goals in 36 games, is making a serious run at the ECHL's season record for goals scored. Jobe, who missed two games in December when he was called up to the American Hockey League, is on pace to finish with 81 goals. The league record is 80, set by Erie's Bill McDougall in 1989-90. . . . Raleigh's Kirby Lindal, on the two-week injured reserve list, has an 11-game goal-scoring streak, one game short of the ECHL record of 12, set by Johnstown's Joe Gurney in '88-89. . . . There are six ex-ECHL players in the NHL - former Virginia Lancer Chris Lindberg (Calgary); Kevin Dahl (Calgary); Stan Drulia (Tampa Bay); Darren Banks (Boston); Alan May (Washington) and David Williams (San Jose). Mario Roberge, who played with Roanoke in the Atlantic Coast League, is with Montreal.